Three players - Shivnarine Chanderpaul of the West Indies, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena and South Africa's Dale Steyn - could enjoy a bumper night in Dubai on Wednesday.

Each is nominated in both the Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year categories in the LG ICC Awards 2008, the fifth staging of the event which was established in 2004.

The other nominee for the Cricketer of the Year prize is South Africa captain Graeme Smith while his team-mate Jacques Kallis is a further nominee in the Test category.

None of the four players shortlisted for the Cricketer of the Year Award has previously lifted the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy so there is certain to be a new name to join the roll-call of winners.

India's ODI and T20 captain, MS Dhoni is also nominated for two prizes - the ODI Player of the Year and the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year, the latter for his captaincy in leading India to the inaugural title in South Africa last September.

The T20I award is new this year and recognises the newest form of the game at international level.

Also nominated are Sachin Tendulkar (ODI Player of the Year), fast bowler Ishant Sharma (Emerging Player of the Year) and Yuvraj Singh (T20I Performance of the Year, to mark his six sixes against England in Durban last September).

In the T20I Performance of the Year, Dhoni and Yuvraj are up against Chris Gayle of the West Indies and Australia's Brett Lee.

The winners of these six individual awards will be voted upon by a 25-person panel from around the world, made up of renowned former players, respected members of the media, and an elite umpire and elite match referee.

A separate 16-person voting academy featuring former players and other experts will decide the winner for the women's category.

The Spirit of Cricket Award will be voted on by all the international captains as well as all members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees. The Umpire of the Year Award is voted on by the captains and the match referees.